The WBL Chronicles

Part 2: Alto, for Real

Now official Zealots after the previous weekends WBL ride, Jason and I where determined to ride Alto. That was the real experience we where after. So, after checking our schedules, and asking our wives really, really, nicely to let us go to Athens again...(this time just for one day) we headed down Friday, for the Alto ride.

Jon Murphy was out of town training for the Tour De Cal, and so wouldn’t be a factor. But, some boys from the Colavita team, straight off racing the Tour of Argentina (tan and all), where there to liven it up. Along with several of the AEG team, and Emile Abraham from Priority Health.

Alto had three attack zones...one came at the 42mile mark, and started with a 4 mile stair step to the ridge, where the city of Alto awaited, 4 miles after the climb. A rest stop followed. The second, came at about 70miles, and ended with a climb up the 1K Crackback hill. Second rest stop. The final attack zone was 12miles, and ended about 10miles outside of town, after which we all rolled back in.

It started out cold, but would slowly warm to over 60degrees. About 1hr outside of Athens, we began to hit the outskirts of Commerce Georgia. With David Crowe, WBL founder and leader, a practicing attorney, he was well acquainted with the local police. The Alto bunch, numbering over 70, was given a three police car rolling closer into, through, and out of Commerce ...absolutely amazing....

At this point, everyone in the peloton was just praying for a pee break, myself included. We finally got outside of Commerce, the mighty whistle blew, a pee break was announced, and all pulled over....now, when 70 bike riders pull over for a pee, it’s quite a sight....35 on one side, 35 on the other side....and, after a few cars basically stopped to look at the spectacle, which stopped traffic in both directions, right in front of the urinating peloton...well, what you ended up with was quite amusing....10 cars stopped in the middle of the road, both directions...watching 70 people urinate on both sides of the road...classic.

The ride was nice and leisurely, out to the attack zone. Mr. Crowe sounded his whistle (yes, a real whistle) to let everyone know the attack zone had begun. The Alto climb was made up of 4 climbs...fairly short (1-2minutes each), but steep, and with only about 15-40seconds rest in between. The Colavita team was determined to make it hard...and hard it was...the climbs, with the short distance, where ridden all out....15 seconds to catch your breath, and you go again...and again, and once more...still 1 more mile to the top after the last pitch of any length, but you still had several more shorter rises, that where drilled each time. When the right turn for home was made, we had about 14 lucky zealots in tow. The 4 mile run in to Alto was flat. After a few attacks, I picked my moment, and figured I had one bullet. Myself and three others attacked, and managed to get about 10 seconds...but, as the smell of blood drew near, and with no one from the Colavita team in the break, it was game over about 500k from the line. Not really sure who won that one.

After the store stop, the next attack zone would be crackback hill, about 30miles away. I was busy chatting near the back of the peloton, when someone said “I think that’s crackback hill”...upon looking up, I said to myself “well, that certainly looks like a hill that might crack your back”. Others snoozing in the back also decided it was time to move up, and I jumped on their wheel...as usual, one of the Colavita team attacked at the base...after getting maybe 10 seconds, he slowed about halfway up...it was steep. I had been riding steady, but very hard...very, very hard (515W avg for one minute)....we crested the top with three, only to find it was still a false flat...which, was good, as we hit the gas again, and further gapped everyone else...it was about 1mile to the sprint finish (which, again, I hadn’t a clue where it actually was, and so I found out, neither did anyone else!). Myself, Emile Abraham of Priority Health, and one of the local Loco’s guy, took turns at the front...nobody knew where the finish was....the attacks and slow ups to figure out if we had passed the finish, allowed the Colavita guy to get back on...from there, we just kept our heads down...we knew there was a store stop ahead...at some point, somebody shouted about some sign ahead, at which point, we just sprinted...for something....I was third...I stopped sprinting when they stopped...haven’t a clue what we really sprinted for...but, it was sprint...what the hell...it was fun just to see what you had in the tank after an effort like that.

The weather was warming up nicely, and the knee warmers came off....the legs where seeing the light of day...alleluia! Heading back through Commerce brought the same rolling 3 police car closure...amazing...but...as we where heading out of Commerce, I hit a rather large rock, and pop went the front tire....luckily, the sag van was there...I hopped in, changed the tire in the van, and they dumped me nicely ahead of the charging peloton. Enough time to gather my wits, before the whistle blew for the final time...this would be the 12 mile attack zone to the finish...it was mostly flat....at the top of one of the rises, one of the Loco’s guys headed off....he got a good gap of maybe 20 seconds, but the peloton held him within reach....the chase slowly started to make headway on the solo rider, and had it closed to about 10 seconds, when my fellow zealot, Jason Guzak, shot out of the Colavita lead peloton, and quickly bridged across....now there where two riders sharing duties, and the gap quickly went back out to 20 seconds, as the miles ticked away. Those in the peloton began to feel nervous, as this had the mark of something that just might stay away...there was one last uphill, big ring drag, before the last turn, with 3 miles to go...this would be where the Colavita team drilled it at about 450W to make the catch...so, after being out there for the better part of 10minutes, it was all together at the last turn in...and, without any major hills to shed riders, we still where about 25 strong...too many to sprint against, this early in the season....I just set midpack and watched...I had no idea where the line actually was anyway.

At the end of the day, we had ticked off 127miles, and about 6.5hrs. While the attack zones where ridden as all out elite level races, the balance of the ride was really pretty easy...my avg power for the day was just 122W...avg speed was 20mph.

The goal was to stretch the legs, and awaken some energy systems that had been mostly dormant since mid Oct. It’s about testing yourself...and you’ve got to seek out those much better than you for any true test. The WBL Alto ride was the perfect test. The ride was first class, and the people on the ride where great fun.

So, I think I’ve started off my 2008 cycling campaign with my objectives in clear view...(1) it must be fun (2) it must be worth leaving your family for (3) you’ve got to be excited about it....if it doesn’t meet all three criteria...well, I’ve got two wonderful children and a wonderful wife at home, and I’m having an awful lot of fun with them.